Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders TC hawkens loads from a newbie

That's true, there is no point in it. So why do you do it? Your quote below is from the hunting rifles forum, just this morning. In your quote, you're telling a guy that 4 MOA is typical for Ruger rifles, which is bullsh** and you know it.

The two Ruger rifles I'm most familiar with are a friend's .204, and my .375. My .375 shoots MOA, and the .204 much better.

I'm starting to see a pattern here though. You're not very good at judging a rifle's potential for accuracy. Either that, or you're just plain full of sh**.

So stop with the bad advice already.

Actually the Rugers I've owned wouldn't even shoot 4 MOA until they had a lot of work done on them. The M77 .30-06 shot about 6" groups at 100 yards. The Mini-30 & Mini-14 weren't much better. Ruger longguns suck.

Key words here (no surprise) are "I've owned." Everyone else's do fine.

Makes you wonder.

My TC hawkin, New in late seventies and rebarrled about 8 years ago will shoot maxiballs better than 1.5" gropus at 100. I traied several other bullets and none would shoot as well.
My load is 90grains of 777 or Pydodex and the maxibal. When these guns first came out, a maxiball mold was also available and I have worn one set out.

These rifles were designed twist wise for the maxi or around bal. All the newer bullets that have hit the market since. like the Power Belt were meant for the inlines, although I understand the heaviest Poweer Belts will do OK on the sidelocks with similar twsit as the TC hawkin.

I also have a TC Black Diamond in line and it will not shoot the mixiballs, but will do exceptionlly well with the 295 gr Power Belts with 100 gr of 777.

For the older eyes, I also recccomend the peep sights. Site in with a fine aperature and switch to a bigger diameter while hunting.I usually just take my aperature completely out while hunting and use the threaded hole.

The twist rate in the T.C. Hawken is set up for a TC Maxi Ball, they shoot great. I did not have good luck at all with the various Sabots that I tried. Of course, I did not try them all.

Great advice all... I felt I was headed in the wrong direction, the guys I know all have inlines and they, like me are more archers that dabble in ML, so their advice didn't relate to the Hawkens.

Thanks for lining me out...

Kent

I forgot about the pellet thing. I am surprised you had reliable ignition with them. Loose T7 is my preferred powder. I also switched to Musket caps, partly for more fire, but more because they are a lot easier to handle. Those little #11's cause a lot of fiddling around for me. One of my Hawken's wears a Lyman 57SML peep, and I have had very good luck with it - even at fairly long range. (175 yds) To reiterate, My .50 cal. 1:48's do very well with conicals, best with Horn. Great Plains 385Gr. over 85 Gr. T7. The best shooting load in all of them is Hornady XTP 240gr. over 100gr. T7.

Well here what I have did bought a mag-spark that hold a 209 primmer instead of the cap .Its like the old accra shot that held a rifle primmer I have both and use them sence the 70s go with what ever powder you want but you don;t need 100 gr in a 50 cal gun with maxi ball there best with 75-90 gr you have to find what your gun likes .I*have a rifle that only like 65 gr tc like 80-90- gr I shoot all kind of powder but when all said in done it just black powder for me. also they will shoot 1-2 inches at 100 yards like my 45s-50s-54s -58 cal and I have more then 2 in each cal

When I first bought my Hawken many moons ago, it was equiped with a 3" high TC Tang aperture sight and globe front sight with interchangeable disks and posts. I also poured my own maxis and sorted them by weight because of air voids. Than rifle with its $150 sights was not very practical for hunting, but I made a lot of cash at the range. My accuracy load was 80 grains of FFFg behind the 370 Maxi. The current ivory front sight came out of my gunsmith's misc. bin. I'm betting Lyman or Williams. I have been on the fire a long time and have only put one person on "ignore." I'll let you figure out who. Lets just say he doen't know shlt from sweet meat about front stuffers.

"For the older eyes, I also recccomend the peep sights. Site in with a fine aperature and switch to a bigger diameter while hunting.I usually just take my aperature completely out while hunting and use the threaded hole."

Like saddlesore, I did the same thing on my inline. My only problem with that set-up was the firesight in the front. It's ok for hunting but the huge mass of it was a little difficult for sighting in.

Yup, the only way to shoot for groups is to get a target with a big (12" or so) black circle so you can place the front sight inside it and center it that way. Otherwise you cover up what you're shooting at.

Smokepole. You can also use the 6 O'clock hold with the bull sitting on top of the front sight. What you don't want is to have a" Flat Tire " appearence on the bull, but just a sliver of white between the front sight and bottom of the bull. Most competitors using military reciever sights use this configuration.No doubt about it though a globe front sight coupled with a rear small diameter reciever sight is the most accurate. Put a globe on an M1 or M1A and you are disqualified as a service rifle competitor and must register as an open sporter

I sold them because they are crap.

There are some difficulties with shooting a small aperature at game besides the obvious problems with low light and moving game.. I don't know much about optics, but I have noticed that the smaller aperature causes the target to "shrink". All of my hunting sight holes are drilled out for hunting and when the light gets really dim, I unscrew the works from the Lyman. I have an RMC 1/28" flinter with rear peep and glow front. I do notice that under certain low on the horizon sun lighting conditions the front glow sight seems to get football shaped-a bit disconcerting to say the least. I use the Caldwell black 5" targets and a six oclock hold at 100. At fifty yards, I use a two inch white square with 1/2" black borders and a center hold.

1:28 is right for conicals. 1:48 is pretty slow for conicals.

Probably sold 'em cheap to some guy who now shoots MOA with factory loads in 'em.

That's how it works all right, all the books will tell you that.

Good point. When I hunt, I like to place the front sight covering the target (not a problem with deer or elk) instead of a six o'clock, so that's how I want the sights adjusted for the range too. With a target that has a 12-inch colored circle, I've found that the front bead on most sights fits in the middle with a little room around the edges at 100 yards, and I can hold pretty consistently by centering the bead in the target.

Target shooting under controlled conditions that works okay. I set mine up so I slide the bullet just over the top of the sight. Usually, iron sight misses are too high, not too low.

For me, it works just fine in the field, as well as at the range. I've killed deer at well over 100 yards, as well as half a dozen elk in closer. It's habit for me--that's how my daisy bb gun was set up as a kid and that's what I like. You set yours up how you like it, and I'll do likewise. And as far as "iron sight misses" I don't use iron sights.